Today is Forever / Hoy es para siempre is a vivid and joyful celebration of ordinary life, with songs addressing topics like friendship, responsibility, birthdays, seasons, family, and more. Each song is aligned with Common Core Standards for language and social/emotional learning. The opening number, “Morning Ritual,” acknowledges the stabilizing and comforting value of routine in a child’s life. The simple declarations of the song’s melodic lines are almost Whitmanesque, with the lyrics always maintaining a prominent place in the balance of the ensemble. The final track, “Bypass This Winter,” extolls the value of daydreams to take oneself to another time and place when a break is needed. The ten songs in between ebb and flow, with a pleasing variety of energy levels, while the lyrics comment on a wealth of everyday experiences. Highlights include the ebullient Latin rhythm and obligato flute stylings on “Lost Art Form,” “Sentimental Photograph (with the unforgettable line, “It must mean something, ‘cos it means something to me”), and “Walter the Gum Magician,” which details a significant piece of “pop” history: the evolution of Dubble Bubble!
Explains Matt Baron, “I didn't decide to start a kids’ band as a means to an end or because the music I was writing for adult audiences had started to bore me. It really happened as a natural extension of my career track as a new public school teacher and my authentic self as a songwriter. My grad school mentor was observing me during my first year of teaching, and one day I decided to use music to teach about the long O vowel sound. I took the list of words the kids were learning that week and wrote the first Future Hits song, ‘Yellow Boat.’ The lesson was a smash hit! Everyone LOVED the song and the ‘secretly educational’ nature of it. My assessor, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher, principal and mayoral aide, said that in his 40 or so years in the system, he had never seen anyone doing exactly what I was up to. Therefore, I ran with it!”
The bilingual aspect of Today is Forever / Hoy es para siempre is likewise no gimmick. Matt Baron began learning Spanish in the fifth grade and continued his studies with passion and dedication through college and beyond. His love of the Spanish language and attendant cultures motivated his desire to teach and work with Spanish-speaking students. As a Chicago Public Schools teacher, Baron works in a district where nearly half the students are Hispanic. He enthuses, “What better way to teach than through music?”
This new album consists of 24 tracks: Baron sings tracks 1-12 in English, and tracks 13-24 in Spanish. Twelve songs, two different languages, all on one album! Baron's virtuoso bandmates Emma Hospelhorn, Ben Sutherland and Nick Kabat helped construct and arrange the album over many recording sessions with Benjamin Balcom at MINBAL in Chicago. Indie icon David Vandervelde is featured on the album and Johnny Sampson developed beautiful original artwork.
Includes unlimited streaming of Today is Forever / Hoy es para siempre
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